One thing that’s surprised me about the comments this seasons: It seems like some of you commenting below don’t care for the Sofia / Toni plotline, which has simmered all season and boils over in “Can I Change My Mind.” Did this episode change that for you? As tensions reach a head, Sofia almost offhandedly slips the question “Why did he do it?” into her fight with her mother. The way Toni responds says a lot, expressing no shock at the question, just sadness, as if she’s known that Sofia has known for a while. And that Sofia has known she knows too. It’s just a matter of bringing it to light, as happens here, in a police station parking lot, in the middle of the day as cars pass unaware of the human drama unfolding.
I’ve appreciated this plotline and I like the way it plays out here. Watching her mother melt down, Sofia’s demeanor changes in an instant, as if she only needed her mom’s acknowledgment of Creighton’s suicide to bring her acting out to an end. The blue streak in her hair might remain, but I’m not sure she’ll be toking up and riding around with strange boys in the future. It’s been the suppression of the truth that’s distorted her personality. Whether that’s true or not to how teenagers process grief, I’m not sure, but it feels true to the character we’ve come to know, a good kid forced to deal with a lot of bad business. Both India Ennenga and Melissa Leo play it well, too. Leo, who can certainly go big as anyone who’s seen The Fighter can attest, plays Toni understatedly. When that understatement breaks, it’s immediately alarming. But it’s the only possible reaction, really, to telling the truth to her daughter after so long a time trying to keep it hidden.
What’s repressed inevitably returns. At least it does with this episode, as Ladonna tries her best to hide her rape from her husband and then sees her efforts unravel in an instant due to an attorney’s unwitting slip of the tongue. It’s the episode’s other devastating moment, as Ladonna realizes that the one humiliation she’s been able to keep from Larry has been brought to light. Maybe she was right to try and keep it from him. His response is unreadable. And as solid as Larry has been, it’s tough knowledge to hear, and tougher still to know it was kept from you. On the other hand, what Ladonna was doing clearly wasn’t working for her. Though done with the tests and the medicine, she’s drinking and smoking too much and just generally sinking away. This might not help that.
Other characters, however, appear to be on an upward swing. Davis debuts DJ Davis And The Brassy Knoll and it’s… well, it’s not bad. Annie and Aunt Mimi certainly like it and so does the small, but enthusiastic crowd. Whether or not it’s the thing that will push New Orleans music forward seems questionable, but with the brass band and Ace B’s rhymes, he may be on to something. And while Davis’ W impression is no threat to Will Ferrell, it earns its place in the show. Sonny, too, seems to be moving on and moving up. The oyster-boat cure has proven surprisingly effective and he’s got a friend willing to serve as a tough love-enforcing guardian angel. It might not last, but this change has made it possible to care about Sonny again. Or maybe just for the first time. Freed—or at least removed—from his habit, he’s charming and easygoing. It’s easy to see how Annie might fall for a guy like that and others might go out of their way to make sure he doesn’t fall any further. (In other words, Sonny’s starting to feel less-and-less like the show’s track-marked Jar-Jar Binks, the character whose mere appearance inspires hostility.)